Procedure adapted to the new regulations published in the BOPV on 7 June 2024 (Chapter IX: International Doctorate).

• In the case of international doctoral theses, in order to be eligible for a certificate of exemption from accreditation of level C2 in the Basque language, at least 50 % of the doctoral thesis must be written in Basque.
• If the research stays and expert reports are from a Spanish-speaking country, it is not necessary for part of the thesis to be written in another language (other than the official languages in Spain. For example: the thesis may be written only in Spanish, or in both Basque and Spanish).
• Research stay supervisors abroad CANNOT write the expert reports on the thesis (chapter IX, art.39, c), NOR can they be members of the thesis panel (chapter IX, art.39, d).
• The other experts reporting on the thesis CAN be members of the thesis panel.
• Research stays abroad must add up to at least three months; and one of those sojourns must be for a minimum of one month.
• Conferences, seminars or attendance at congresses are not considered as research stays.

--> Should you have any queries regarding international doctorates, please write to doctorado@ehu.eus.

The PhD qualification may include the "International Doctorate" distinction on the front, providing that the following circumstances are met:

RESEARCH STAYS:

Throughout the necessary training period to obtain the PhD qualification, the doctoral candidate must have completed one or several stays abroad of at least three months in total, at one or several higher education institutions or prestigious research centres, for the purposes of complementing and strengthening their research training. In the event that the student carries out several stays, at least one of them must have a minimum duration of one month.

In the case of a co-supervised thesis, stays at the universities that form part of the co-supervision DO NOT COUNT towards obtaining an international doctorate distinction. An additional research stay will be required at another university (Chapter X, Article 41d of the Regulations for Managing Official Doctoral Studies at the University of the Basque Country of 25 April 2024).

LANGUAGES:

Part of the doctoral thesis, at least the summary and conclusions, must have been written and presented in one of the languages commonly used for scientific communication in the corresponding field of knowledge, which must be different from any of the official languages in Spain. This rule shall not apply when the research stays, reports and experts come from a Spanish-speaking country.

PERSONS EVALUATING THE THESIS:

At least 2 of the experts who issued reports on the thesis belong to a foreign higher education institution or research institute. Said experts may not be the same people who hosted the doctoral candidate during their research stay and acted as tutors or supervisors at the host institution that is referred to as a justification for the international distinction.

At least 1 expert (PhD holder) from a foreign higher education institution or research centre, different from the person supervising the research stay, forms part of the viva panel. The supervisor of the research stay may not sit on the viva panel either.

STEP 1: RESEARCH STAYS ABROAD

The academic committee of the doctoral program authorizes the stay.

The doctoral candidate follows the procedure for outgoing stays.

At the end of the stay, the doctoral student must send to the DOKe a certificate from the host institution signed by the person responsible for the stay.

The doctoral student must complete a report of activities related to his/her stay at the host institution, which will be included in the Activity Document through GAUR.

STEP 2: THESIS IN VARIOUS LANGUAGES

The doctoral student will write at least the summary and conclusions of the doctoral thesis in one of the usual languages for scientific communication in his/her field of knowledge, other than any of the official or co-official languages of Spain.

This rule will not apply when the stays, reports and experts come from a Spanish-speaking country (Chapter IX, 39b Artikulua: Requirements for the 'International Doctorate' distinction).

STEP 3: REPORTS AND THESIS DEFENCE

Prior to the presentation of the doctoral thesis in the department in which the doctoral student is enrolled, the director(s) must obtain at least two favourable reports on the doctoral thesis issued by doctors experts on the topic who are regular members of two different institutions of higher education or foreign research institutes. These reports must include a brief CV the aforementioned experts.

The doctoral student follows the regular authorization procedure for doctoral thesis up to the submission to the department in which he/she is enrolled (Chapter VI, Article 23).

The following documents are submitted to the department (the department will subsequently submit them to the Postgraduate Studies Service in order to be processed by the Postgraduate Commission of the UPV/EHU):

• Standard form for requesting the ‘International Doctorate’ distinction, previously approved by the doctoral programme’s Academic Commission (download here).
• Certificate(s) of the research stay issued by the host institution, and signed by the supervisor of the research stay in that institution. If the candidate has conducted several research stays, he/she must submit a separate certificate for each stay, indicating the period during which they took place.
• The two favourable reports about the thesis.

The Department Council prepares a proposal for the examination committee that is submitted to the Postgraduate Commission. Conditions to be fulfilled by the examination committee:

• For tribunals of five or three members, at least one of the full members and one of the alternates must belong to a foreign university (or institute of higher education or research centre).
• The supervisor of the research stay leading to the international distinction may not be a member of the panel (Chapter VII. Article 35.3: Proposals for panel members).

The postgraduate commission authorizes the defence of the doctoral thesis (including the examination committee).

After the defence of the doctoral thesis, the secretary of the examination committee will include the languages of defence and their percentage in the grade report.